Medical Cannabis Research

From the June, 2013 issue of Cell Death and Disease comes news about cannabinoids and pancreatic cancer. The article is scientifically dense, but the results demonstrated for the first time that cannabinoid-dependent autophagy induction in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells is strictly related to the inhibition of energetic metabolism. Welcome news about an otherwise grim disease. read more…

The Open Neurology Journal published this federally funded study in May, 2012 and concluded the following: The classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug as well as the continuing controversy as to whether or not cannabis is of medical value are obstacles to medical progress in this area. Based on evidence currently available the Schedule I classification is not tenable; it is not accurate that cannabis has no medical value, or that information on safety is lacking. read more…

Psychiatric Times invited psychiatrists to complete a survey about medicinal marijuana and didn’t expect nearly 2200 people to complete that survey in just a few days. The results, reported in the July 2013 issue, reflect the current state of confusion among medical professionals regarding medical cannabis. read more…

The role of the endocannabinoid system in nicotine addiction is being increasingly acknowledged. From the University College in London, this study published in the September 2013 issue of Addictive Behavior found that cannabidiol (CBD) reduces cigarette consumption in tobacco smokers. read more…

Social anxiety – from the Journal Neuropsychopharmacology this well referenced study published in 2011 found that pre-treatment with CBD significantly reduced anxiety, cognitive impairment and discomfort in speech performance. read more…

CBD represents the first nontoxic exogenous agent that can significantly decrease Id-1 expression in metastatic breast cancer cells leading to the down-regulation of tumor aggressiveness. In 2007, at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, a study was published by Sean McAllister in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics titled: Cannabidiol as a novel inhibitor of Id-1 gene expression in aggressive breast cancer cells. read more…

From the American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology published in September 2007, research from Israel has shown that CBD causes reduced infarct size in an in vivo rat model of ischemia and reperfusion. Furthermore, it seems that this effect is not direct and may be mediated by a reduced inflammatory response. Thus CBD may be a promising novel treatment for myocardial ischemia. read more…

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers discovered that cannabis-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can directly inhibit a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found in late-stage AIDS, according to findings published online in March of 2012 in the journal PLoS ONE. Triggering CB1 causes the drug high associated with cannabis, making it undesirable for physicians to prescribe. The researchers wanted to explore therapies that would target CB2 only. The Mount Sinai team infected healthy immune cells with HIV, then treated them with a chemical that triggers CB2 called an agonist. They found that the drug reduced the infection of the remaining cells. read more…

Smoking cannabis can relieve muscle tightness, spasticity (contractions) and pain often experienced by those with multiple sclerosis, says research out of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. The findings, published in May of 2012 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, included a controlled trial with 30 participants to understand whether inhaled cannabis would help complicated cases where existing pharmaceuticals are ineffective or trigger adverse side effects. read more…

Chronic neuropathic pain? From the Canadian Medical Association comes a journal article published in 2010. They found that a single inhalation of 25 mg of 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol herbal cannabis three times daily for five days reduced the intensity of pain, improved sleep and was well tolerated. read more…